I sometimes read DND blogs in which D100 tables appear. There's just something about that format that I like. It reminds me of lots of cool stuff like the Babylonian lists of mes. Are they recent or old school? Whenabouts did they arise in role playing gaming?
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The earliest such table I've seen in a rule-book is in D&D Supplement I - Grayhawk. Page 7. Exceptional Strength Table. It does use the leading 0 for 01. This puts the date no later than 1976. The earliest such table I've seen is in Strategic Review #1, page 4, "Treasure. This issue is dated Spring, 1975, and is the D&D magazine of that era. Interestingly, core white box D&D uses d6's, as does Chainmail, so players having d20's for rolling percentiles is unlikely, and the optional alternate combat rules make note of this; the SR #1 tables are a sign that D&D as played by Gygax wasn't D&D as published, as they use d12's, d20's, and d100's. (It was several years more before pentagonal dipyramids were devised for use as d10's) |
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They’re not recent. They date back to early D&D at least. I see one in The Dungeoneer #8, p. 28, The Booty Bag: Magical Gems of Rechaun by Ree Moorhead. It is, as the title implies, a table of gems. There are a few things done differently than I normally see today. The last item is listed as “100 (00) Zircon” rather than just “00”, and the first item is listed as “1-10 Agate”, not “01-10 Agate”. I don’t see any d100 tables in issues 1-7. Issue 8 is dated May-June 1978. The AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide and adventures of that era were filled with them, for wandering monster charts. There’s also one in Judges Guild Journal #5 (N), dated August/September 1977. It looks exactly like what I normally see today. It’s a table of merchants, and starts with “01-13 Cloth Merchants” and ends with “00 Miscellaneous Merchants”. It’s on page 6. I don’t see a d100 table in Judges Guild Journal #4 (M), and I don’t have any earlier issues. |
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